topcat(The most tip top)

Spartans are a decent side but they’re just not in the same class as the likes of Fiorentina or Brora Rangers

Surprised about lowry I thought his spell at hearts had hit that mid point between being so successful that Rangers would demand him back and being so unsuccessful that Hearts would send him back

Denying Rights for women in general? jog on I'm a sportsman not a politician Denying Rights for women I actually know? Well I've got to draw the line somewhere

Given that they give players thorough medical examinations to check for potential future problems maybe clubs need to check the hard drives of prospective signings Or just stick a poll on P&B and we'll accurately rate how likely they are to be a wrong un on a scale of 1 to Grealish

Where do pedants get their water? From a

I've got an actual scriptural question as opposed to Ontological one In Exodus there's the familiar 10 plagues of Egypt story where God sends a plague to persuade the Pharaoh to free the Hebrews, the hard hearted Pharaoh doesn't budge and things escalate to the next plague. It goes through 10 iterations and finally the Pharaoh cracks For the first five this hard heartedness is described as simply being his nature or he has "hardened his heart" which suggests a certain amount of agency as if he was considering folding. The Plague of Blood Exodus 7:22 But the Egyptian magicians did the same things by their secret arts, and Pharaoh’s heart became hard; he would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said. The Plague of Frogs Exodus 8:15 But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said. The Plague of Gnats Exodus 8:19 The magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.” But Pharaoh’s heart was hard and he would not listen, just as the Lord had said. The Plague of Flies Exodus 8:32 But this time also Pharaoh hardened his heart and would not let the people go. The Plague on Livestock Exodus 9:7 Pharaoh investigated and found that not even one of the animals of the Israelites had died. Yet his heart was unyielding and he would not let the people go. But over the last five the situation subtly changes The Plague of Boils Exodus 9:12 But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart and he would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said to Moses. The Plague of Hail Exodus 9:34 When Pharaoh saw that the rain and hail and thunder had stopped, he sinned again: He and his officials hardened their hearts The Plague of Locusts Exodus 10:20 But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let the Israelites go. The Plague of Darkness Exodus 10:27 But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he was not willing to let them go. The Plague on the Firstborn Exodus 11:10 Moses and Aaron performed all these wonders before Pharaoh, but the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let the Israelites go out of his country. The Hard Heartedness is now seemingly due to the Lord as opposed to the Pharaoh. Why does this change? What is it supposed to mean? Speaking as a gentile first born son I've always found this to be a particularly problematic bit.

So where does "the burden or proof" rest on this one?

Apart from 18th century Edinburgh where they just called the new town “The New Town”

In the context of the formation of the Premier League the "Big" is probably best read as "box office", a measure of how much attention the club's games can command from the casual viewer which is what was going to matter for the new era I chose 6 because Spurs and Chelsea were also part of the group pressing for the formation of what became the premier league Previously attendances were the normal proxy for "bigness" but as matchday income was the the bulk of clubs' total income that still amounted to "Big = Money" And by that metric Everton were indeed firmly in the top 4 from their title winning season 85 through to the end of the 80s But Man City were pulling in top 4 crowds at the start of the 80s and even the season after getting relegated were still drawing bigger numbers than Goodison People who think football only started in 1992 tend to think that Everton have always been irrelevant and that Manchester City is a new thing. They're wrong on both counts

It's not quite up there with the opening of the gates at Syracuse in 212 BC but the question of what would have happened if the wall hadn't failed at Heysel is one of the great "What ifs" of history Maybe in an alternate time line they have equalled Aston Villa's or even Forest's tally of European cups Speculating about counterfactual history is fun but you can't take it too seriously Nonetheless to suggest that Everton's decline really started at Heysel would be a contrived and contrarian reading of History What we do know about actual history is that if Everton's ongoing fortunes were diminished it wasn't by enough to exclude them from the "Big Six" looking to break the top flight away financially from the rest of the game that gave us the Barclay Premier League that we all know and love* today Despite their European Cup wins Villa and Forest were not "big six" clubs It is not only far more sensible to chart Everton's decline from 1992 it's also a more satisfying narrative as it becomes the classic story of the inventor being destroyed by their own invention * love, hate or at least take an interest in

While the linfield one seems to include absolutely everything (like the County Antrim Shield) In the leage it's only 51 (in the 3 major competitions they're "only" 66 games ahead) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Two_derby#Overall League: W 131,D 79,L 79( +51) Cup: W 28,D 15,L 15( +10) League Cup: W 10,D 2,L 2( +4) The Madrid number quoted also seems to be all inclusive and they're +58 on major tournaments https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madrid_derby#All_matches League W 91,D 41,L 41( +50) Cup W 18,D 14,L 14( +7) League Cup W 1,D 1,L 1( -1) Super Cup W 1,D 2,L 2( 0) UCL W 5,D 2,L 2( +3) USC W 0,D 0,L 0( -1) THe same goes for Barcelona where the equivalent number would be +82 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derbi_Barceloní League W 102,D 40,L 40( +68) Cup W 20,D 6,L 6( +10) Super Cup W 2,D 0,L 0( +2) Inter Cities Fairs Cup W 2,D 0,L 0( +2) In Edinburgh the numbers are League W 130,D 94,L 94( +48) Cup: W 18,D 9,L 9( +6) League Cup: W 5,D 0,L 0( +4) Which means that if we're not counting minor tournaments ... Hearts are on +58 tied with the equivalent number for Real Madrid both of us are breathing down Linfield's neck and Barcelona are miles out in front Atletico host Real in the Copa del Rey tomorrow and it's a chance for Hearts to go clear in third. Hibs Fans should be getting behind Real and, for that matter, Linfield

Are we now the kind of country that after a world cup clears out players who are going to be too old for the next one?

Normally these things involve seeing the player on the way up and then seeing them on the way down Availability bias then means that you most strongly remember the end of the first spell when they were approaching their peak and the end of their second spell when they're fading out. Christophe Berra was probably almost as good during his second Hearts career 2017-21 as his first 2003-09 but that's not how it feels

When I first read that I somehow skipped the word "with" and it looked like a far more interesting story

Inflation since Lafferty signed amounts to about 27% so it would be surprising if this offer isn’t at least nominally bigger

But the glazers…..

I guess it's more for the Ross County Fans really

The contrived plausible deniability is very much on brand though

You can relive the excitement on Youtube

There’s a whole soap opera angle about Owen Farrell’d selection

One would imagine that most domestic audiences would actually get the layer of irony, although of course a rich American celebrity might not

If that's what football clubs are going to get up to with their spare time in January then maybe the league needs to rethink the whole winter break thing

Pardon? Who? What?

If Frankie Dettori and Kylie are next in the queue then they’ve got a chance

That was the “Terry Butcher’s green and white army” campaign which would probably have merited at least a dishonourable mention on this thread even if the season had played out unremarkably If I’d been in the marketing department I’d have gone for a serious of butcher puns Hibs will be playing for high stakes, Easter Road is a great stadium and we need you to fillet, meat up with your friends in the lounge in the famous five stand etc… mind you I’m not actually a marketing expert, as you may have guessed anyway by the end of the season Hibs were tripe and Butcher got the chop